


A Little Bad

by chiefmomboss



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:17:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5228345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiefmomboss/pseuds/chiefmomboss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lin comes home with a broken nose. Ft. Tai Jun, a nonbender sculptor OC created by amiraelizabeth on tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Bad

Lin pushed open the front door with her shoulder. She held the bloody rag to her face, fingers pinched around her nose.

The light in the workshop was on, and Lin wandered to it. She’d been fine in the car until she stepped out into the cold night air.

She leaned in the doorway and watched Tai spin his pottery wheel. He focused entirely on the lump of clay in front of him.

“Hey,” she said. To watch him work was usually entertaining—his focus so sharp and the faces he made.

Tai glanced up, but his jaw dropped when he saw the rag she held to her face. “Honey,” he said, getting up and wiping his hands on his apron. “What happened—let me see.”

Lin took the cloth away. She couldn’t really feel the blood anymore. Just the pain and throbbing.

He set a hand on her cheek. His fingers were still covered in wet clay. “Is it broken?”

She shrugged. “Probably.”

He took his hand away and let her set the cloth back against her face. She was pretty sure her nose was done bleeding, but she wasn’t going to take chances.

“Lin—shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

“They won’t do anything,” she said. “Just poke it, make it hurt more, then tell me what I already know. It’s broken.”

“But the blood—”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Trust me. I drove home.”

Tai pouted like he wanted to argue. She probably shouldn’t have driven home, but it was too late now.

“Let’s get you washed up,” he said.

Lin didn’t protest and let him slide an arm around her waist as they walked to the bathroom upstairs.

She sat on the edge of the bathtub and let Tai take the towel from her. “This was clean,” he said. “Right?”

“It was—yesterday,” she answered.

“Lin.”

“I thought I had it stopped,” she said. “Then my nose started gushing blood in the locker room, the dirty laundry was closest—what was I supposed to do?”

Tai dropped the red-stained rag in the trashcan. He got a clean towel from the cupboard and ran it under the faucet. He knelt down and gently dabbed at the dried blood around her nose. “What happened?”

“Stupid triad got a lucky shot,” she said.

Tai started to smile. He wiped at the muddy clay stains on her cheek. “Have you tried ice yet?”

“No,” she breathed.

“We’ll try that next.”

Lin fought the urge to grab his wrist every time he touched a tender spot. Tai smiled at her clenched jaw. He pressed as lightly as he could. Tai decided he’d washed off enough when he saw tears in her eyes.

“Ice?”

She nodded, swiping her thumb under her eye. “It’s not bad it’s just—really sensitive.”

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Ice will help.”

Lin caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror as they walked out, and she pouted at the red, swollen, bruising blob in the center of her face.

Tai Jun gave her an ice pack, something they just kept in their icebox. She sat on the couch with her legs folded up and held the ice to her nose. She set her cheek on her knees.

“What happened,” Tai repeated as he sat next to her. “The details.”

She sighed. “I almost had this guy cuffed when he jerked his wrist from me and elbowed me smack in my nose.”

Tai ran his fingers between her shoulders. “His elbow?”

"Yeah it felt like someone hit me with a brick," she said.

"No concussion?"

"Don't think so."

Tai gently squeezed her shoulders, intending to massage them. "Taking tomorrow off?"

"The morning anyway," she said. She took the ice pack off. "I'm sick of holding stuff to my nose,” she breathed.

He leaned down and carefully pressed his lips against hers. She sat up and kissed him back. His hand curled around her cheek—something she never got tired of. She wrapped her hand over his, holding it to her face.

Lin let the ice pack slip from her hand to the floor. Tai slipped his free hand around her waist. She wished she’d taken her armor off when she got home.

Then—the slow trickle of blood. She could feel the first drop slide down her nose. She wanted to scream. Instead, she broke away, tore Tai’s hand off her cheek. She pinched her nose together, sending a wave of pain over her face. The tears rose as Tai stood. He kissed her forehead before he wandered to the kitchen, returning with a towel.

She never had to explain—he just knew.

He picked up the ice pack and set it on the coffee table. “Maybe we should go to a hospital,” he said. “How many times has it started and stopped?”

“Four,” she breathed. She didn’t want to—but. “Alright, let’s go.”

* * *

Tai smiled when the nurse stepped away from Lin. The bleeding had been stopped for an hour, and the nurse taped Lin’s nose into the right place to heal. The doctor, a waterbender, healed it enough to coagulate the blood.

“Just don’t breathe too hard through your nose for a while,” was all he had to say.

Lin met Tai’s eyes, bright with amusement. She pouted.

“It’s not that bad.”

“Then why are you smiling?” she asked.

“It’s a little bad,” he said.

* * *

Lin could see her reflection in the side mirror of Tai’s car. Purple bruise under white tape. She couldn’t look away.

At a red light, Tai reached across and set his hand on her knee.

A triad goon—barely had a record. He just caught her off guard, right?

Lin climbed out of the car, and the second the door shut, Tai scooped her off her feet.

“I broke my face not my legs,” she mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You’ve lost some blood though,” he said. “You might faint, and I won't let that happen.”

She started to smile.

Tai carried Lin into the house, up the stairs, to their bedroom.

She finally took her armor off, letting it clang on the floor and collapsing on their bed in her work pants and tank top.

Tai slid his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. “I love you.”

She folded her arms over his. “I love you, too.”

 


End file.
